Anakbayan New Jersey invites you to an educational discussion that aims to discuss the significance of November 30th and the revolutionary history and tradition of the Filipino youth. It also aims to connect this history to the Filipino-American context.
Month: December 2011
Call to mobilize relief for Victims of Typhoon Sendong
NAFCON Activates Bayanihan Relief for Victims of Disastrous Calamity in Mindanao
PRESS RELEASE
20 December 2011
Contact: Jun Cruz
NAFCON Public Information Officer
Email: info@nafconusa.org
Phone: 650-580-7382
On the quiet night of December 17th, the Philippines was struck by another calamity in the Southern Islands of Mindanao identified as tropical storm ‘Sendong’.
Cagayan de Oro, Negros Oriental and Iligan were amongst the worst cities hit by flash floods and landslides leaving 650 confirmed dead, with more reported fatalities expected, and nearly 100,000 victims homeless.
The National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON), with member organizations throughout the U.S., is activating its Bayanihan Relief program for the victims of ‘Sendong’ in Mindanao.
NAFCON is collecting exclusively monetary relief (not material goods) and ensures that your donations go directly to the communities of the Philippines who are deeply and adversely affected by ‘Sendong’.
“As we near Christmas, we urge our kababayan to ease the suffering of children, families, and loved ones back home who were hit hard by ‘Sendong’ by making immediate monetary donations in the true spirit of the holidays,” said Terry Valen, NAFCON President.
NAFCON has established collections centers throughout the U.S and has a Paypal account. For Paypal go to: http://tinyurl.com/bayanihanreliefeffort or click on the donate button below:
Cash or checks go to locations listed below. On memo please write: NAFCON Bayanihan Relief
North East: Checks Payable to “Philippine Forum”
Mail to 40-21 69th St. Woodside, NY
Regional Coordinator: Michelle Saulon, ne@nafconusa.org, (347) 867 – 1550
Mid West: Checks Payable to “Good Shepherd Congregation”
Mail to 4707 W. Pratt Ave Lincolnwood, Il 60712
Regional Coordinator: Lorena Nabua, mw@nafconusa.org, (224) 678 – 3415
Nor Cal: Checks Payable to “FOCUS-Filipino Community Support”
Mail to 4681 Mission St. San Francisco, Ca 94112
Regional Coordinator: Angelica Cabande nc@nafconusa.org, (415) 946 – 9904
So Cal: Checks Payable to “Tulong Sa Bayan (TSB)”
Mail to: 519 S. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90013
Regional Coordinator: Alex Montances, sc@nafconusa.org, (253) 381 – 7444
North West: Checks Payable to “Pinay Sa Seattle”
Mail to 5740 Martin Luther King Junior Way Seattle, WA 98118
Regional Coordinator: Freedom Siyam, nw@nafconusa.org, (206) 659 – 1130
For more information on fundraising and relief activities in your area please contact NAFCON regional coordinators nearest you.
Fil-Ams to Palparan– Surrender & Face the Law
Arrest Order Turned Manhunt Against Palparan is a Result of Filipino People’s Struggle for Human Rights
The recent failed attempt of former Philippine military leader Jovito Palparan to flee the Philippines for Singapore turned all-out manhunt to arrest the retired major general who remains in hiding is not only a clear admission of guilt for the heinous crimes committed against scores of innocent civilians under the former Arroyo administration, but a product of arduous, continuous peoples struggle for the recognition and respect of human rights against an impotent justice system wallowing in a culture of impunity. Filipino-Americans in the US, under the banner of BAYAN USA, and their supporters echo the call for Jovito Palparan to immediately surrender himself to the state authorities and face the law.
“Palparan is responsible for hundreds of cases of human rights violations including the enforced disappearance and torture of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno. These are crimes of such heinous nature that he should not be granted any leniency and be immediately arrested and jailed along with his men,” states BAYAN USA founding member Melissa Roxas, a community health worker from the US who traveled to the Philippines and survived violent abduction and torture by Philippine military elements in 2009, in response to the news of the manhunt for Palparan.
Before his stint as a Philippine Congressman representing the Bantay Party-List, Palparan was a decorated military general under the former Arroyo administration. He was notoriously known as “Berdugo” (the Butcher) by human rights groups and their supporters for the lead role he played in crafting one of the bloodiest counter-insurgency campaigns in the country’s history– Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL)– with the blessing and support of Washington and tens of millions of dollars annually in US military aid. According to human rights groupKarapatan, nine years of OBL under the Arroyo government claimed 1,206 civilian lives through extrajudicial killings and another 206 inenforced disappearances. Justice for the victims remains painfully absent as an overwhelming majority of these cases are unresolved and the perpetrators still at large. Families of the victims still have to contend with a justice system that grants the Philippine military as well as private armies of corrupt politicians a free pass to terrorize civilians, particularly open critics of the government, in order to quell dissent and protect the interests of a ruling landlord bureaucracy.
Against this current, it is principally the unflinching perseverance of the victims and their families, along with human rights advocates such as Karapatan, the peoples’ organizations under BAYAN Philippines,churches, lawyers, and progressive partylists to gather evidence and file cases in the domestic and international courts, reach out to human rights groups abroad to shape broad worldwide solidarity against impunity, and build a strong, dynamic people’s movement for human rights and for justice. Nearly a decade later, the fruits of this labor are beginning to appear with the issuance of an arrest order by the Regional Trial Court in Bulacan against Palparan and 3 co-accused in the 2006 dual abduction of University of the Philippines students Cadapan and Empeno.
BAYAN USA and its supporters welcome the recent and uncharacteristic turn of the Philippine state authorities to pursue an arrest of Palparan and his cohorts, following the arrest of his former commander-in-chief Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for electoral sabotage. But there remains no reason to assume the struggle for human rights can rest. Now more than ever, the people must stay vigilant in their pressure to the current Aquino administration to exact the full extent of the law on Palparan and his co-accused and ensure due payment for their crimes. This is but a fraction of what the victims and their families truly deserve.
“The families have suffered so much and the Philippine government has done very little to help them,” Roxas adds. “The burden has been upon the families, human rights defenders, and people’s organizations to pursue justice. Finally there is an issue of warrant for Palparan’s arrest. But as long as Palparan is still at large, trying to evade the law, as long as Sherlyn and Karen still remain missing, the fight for justice will continue.” ###
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BAYAN-USA is an alliance of 15 progressive Filipino organizations in the U.S. representing youth, students, women, workers, artists, and human rights advocates. As the oldest and largest overseas chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN-Philippines), BAYAN-USA serves as an information bureau for the national democratic movement of the Philippines and as a campaign center for anti-imperialist Filipinos in the U.S. For more information, visit www.bayanusa.org
Anakbayan NJ December Calendar of Events
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10
Pasko sa Pilipinas: Parol-Making Workshop
What: The Filipino School of NY and NJ, endorser of NAFCON’s Lantern Festival, is hosting a holiday lantern-making workshop. For more info, visit: http://www.facebook.com/events/319626691397055/
Time: 11am – 12:30pm
Venue: PACCAL Neighborhood Center (380 Monmouth Street, Jersey City, NJ)
Educational Discussion on CASER
What: BAYAN discussion on Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms in light of the Peace Negotiations between the Government of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
Time: 12pm- 3pm
Venue: Bayanihan Community Center (40-21 69th Street, Woodside, NY)
Lights for Rights
What: NYCHRP marks International Human Rights Day. Remembering victims of human rights violations. For more information, visit: http://www.facebook.com/events/291613420858890/?ref=ts
Time: 4:30pm- 5:30pm
Venue: Red Steps on Times Square, New York, NY
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17
Anakbayan NY and NJ 6th Anniversary Celebration
What: Night of celebrating youth empowerment and action. Reportback from the Summer Exposure Program in the Philippines. Great cultural performances. For more info, visit: http://www.facebook.com/events/322967757715853/
Time: 7pm- 10pm
Venue: Hudson Pride Connections Center (23 Jones Street, Jersey City, NJ)
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18
First Annual Lantern Festival
What: NAFCON’s commemoration of International Migrant’s Day. Cultural performances, ecumenical service, and a lantern parade. For more information, visit http://www.facebook.com/events/126279560815476/
Time: 2:00pm- 8:00pm
Venue: Bayanihan Community Center (40-21 69th Street, Woodside, NY)
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28
Educational Discussion on N30
What: Anakbayan NJ discussion on the significance of November 30- Andres Bonifacio, Kabataang Makabayan and Anakbayan. For more information, contact Bea Sabino at (201) 779-6886.
Time: 3:00pm- 6:00pm
Venue: TBA in Jersey City
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2012
AB Monthly General Meeting
Time: 4:00pm- 6:00pm
Venue: TBA in Jersey City
Anakbayan New Jersey and New York’s 6th Anniversary
Come and celebrate Youth empowerment as Anakbayan New Jersey and New York turns 6. Share a day of empowerment, inspiration and community building. There’ll be fun, food and music.
Anakbayan was founded on November 30, 1998, the 135th birthday of a revolutionary Filipino patriot named Andres Bonifacio. Andres Bonifacio a young worker in Tondo, helped found the “Kataas-taasang, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan” or Katipunan for short. Andres Bonifacio, together with other youth, primarily peasants and workers, together with intellectuals will lead the Katipunan and wage the first anti-colonial armed revolution against the Spanish Empire. It signifies Anakbayan’s recognition of its role to continue the unfinished revolution for national liberation and genuine democracy.
2 years after its founding, Anakbayan played a crucial role in the EDSA People Power Uprising in 2001 as it mobilized hundreds of thousands of youth nationwide by effectively uniting the youth from peasant and working class background up to the students and professionals.
Meanwhile, in New York and New Jersey, a young Filipino migrant/worker organization called MAKABAYAN or Magaaral at Kabataan para sa Bayan (Students and Youth for the People) and JERSEY YOUTH heeded the call of Anakbayan in the Philippines to organize the Filipino youth to participate in our people’s unfinished struggle for genuine freedom and democracy. Though thousands of miles away from the Philippines MAKABAYAN and other progressive youth organizations in the U.S. saw the concrete link of our history of migration and identity to the ongoing revolutionary struggle in the homeland.
In 2005, MAKABAYAN and JERSEY YOUTH, united to officially found the New York and New Jersey chapter of Anakbayan. Since then, Anakbayan has participated in countless local struggles in New Jersey and New York area, from Anti-trafficking campaign to worker strikes, from relief operations to campaigns against human rights violation in the Philippines, in line with the general struggle of our people for national liberation and genuine democracy.
BUILD A BRIGHT FUTURE FOR THE GLOBAL 99%: A Reportback from the 4th International Assembly of the ILPS
Monday, Dec. 5, 630p to 9p
$5-$10 Donations accepted
at the Solidarity Center
55 W. 17th Street, 5th Fl
… Between 5th and 6th Aves. (trains to 14th St.)
Light refreshments will be served
As the 1% and their state apparatus try to crush the Occupy movement across the US, the 99%’s anger over corporate greed continues to deepen and expand into a broad solidarity movement to defend the Occupy movement and the people’s right to resist a rotten economic system.
Occupy Wall Street is part of a global movement because Wall Street’s power, as well as it’s reactionary state violence, is global. On six continents, people are in combat with the forces of monopoly capital that are destroying our lives. The intensifying repression of monopoly capitalist forces continues to be met by the global 99%’s movements for national and social liberation around the world. At the same time, the global 99% continues to amass power and strategy to take down the global 1% through international solidarity, cooperation, and the building of the broad anti-imperialist united front.
Last July, in Manila, nearly 500 people from 40 countries attended the Fourth International Assembly of the International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS). In its decade of existence, the ILPS has grown into the largest international anti-imperialist united front, linking the struggles of workers, farmers, youth, women, migrants, queers, indigenous peoples, eco-activists, and others against the various impacts of monopoly capital all over the world under an umbrella of unity, support, respect and coordination.
Join us as several ILPS delegates from New York City reportback on what they experienced in Manila and what it means in the context of Occupy Wall Street.
ILPS member organizations in the Tri-State area include the International Action Center, Al-Awda NY, NY May 1st Coalition for Worker and Immigrant Rights, and BAYAN USA.
sponsored by BAYAN USA and the International Action Center
Anakbayan New Jersey 